God Whisperer
by Akylina11
Summary: The world was beginning to collapse. It was a constant fight to survive. And outrunning them was out of the question. "God, we're fucked,"
1. 01 - Day 3

The world was beginning to collapse.

Things mutated into monsters, feasting on anything that moved or had any natural element. There were all land, sky, and sea monsters that devoured anything and everything. Life forms were growing extinct by the minute, human populations plummeted as they were eaten by such indestructible creatures. Natural growth was no longer granted to Earth herself. Man can not fight against the laws of broken nature. And survival was the only option.

Tala looked out in the deserted landscape that may have once been filled with greenery and wildlife but was now a sahara. The sunset darkening the land with its fiery hues, brightening the end of the day for a few more minutes before disappearing from the horizon.

"Alright Amsi, you're going to have to get going for the night." Tala looks over at the Abaddon she has been stroking for the last half-hour, patting the top of it and giving the tiny aragami a smile.

It let out its groan, looking at the human with its yellow, jailed eyes. He grew attached to her like a puppy to its mother, always wanting to be around her and her warmth and comfort. While they were made from the very cells that killed what was living, it did not attack when provoked. This one specifically was afraid of the human before seeking her like a shelter.

"You're adorable." Tala giggles, giving the little monster one last stroke before watching it fly to wherever it goes. Maybe somewhere to hide for the night, or maybe following other aragami in search of food.

Standing from the edge of the collapsed building, Tala walked away from the empty sight towards ground level flooring, navigating through cracks and crevices of the building as she made it to her underground bunker for the weekend. She knew the first rule to travel: don't stay in one place for more than 3 days. As familiar aragami pick up a new scent, they will attempt to break through and do whatever it takes to get their meal. Though she has found bunkers of some survivors, she knew well enough to stay far away from them since they are likely to attract aragami than be safe from them. And that is from experience.

Tala rummaged through her backpack before finding a protein bar that she found just the day before. While it was small, it had enough energy for her to last 2 to 3 days without travel. She had recently found an abandoned military vehicle that had MRE's and water for her to last 2 weeks. While it was extra weight on her back, it was a true blessing on her side.

Being a one-person team made it more difficult for Tala to go scavenging for food and supplies. She had to cover more ground in less time and her alertness had to be higher than before since she didn't have someone else to warn her about oncoming aragami or which ones they were. But her talent made it just a little easier to handle aragami; especially when they aren't there to cause any harm.

As Tala savored the protein bar, she pulled out a book she had found a few days back and began reading it where she left off. It was an old historical book that told the reader about the days when dragons ruled the sky and unicorns roamed bloomed valleys. Resources were infinite as everyone had food and shelter, and the only antagonist of the story was the evil wizard and tax collectors.

"Amsi is like a dragon in a way," Tala suddenly thought. Though she does think he looks more like a flying fish out of water than a dragon.

She read the story for part of the night before deciding that she needed to get some sleep. It was her last night in the area and she needed to prepare for departure before the sunset of the next evening.


	2. 02 - God Dancer

Soma walked around the compound with his usual hard expression like it was any other day. He had just recently gotten back from a mission with Lindow and wasn't in the mood for some rest. In fact, he was restless. Making it up to the lobby of the compound, Soma walked up to the kiosk where Hibari typed away on her computer.

"Hibari," He calls, making her slightly jump at the sound of his voice.

"Oh, Soma! I didn't see you there! Is there anything you need?" She asks him, giving him a nervous smile as his expression doesn't change.

"Are there any missions that are going on right now?" Hibari looks at Soma in surprise before looking down at her computer and checking out the scheduling.

"So far, it has been quiet but Eric will be going on a mission tomorrow if you would like to join him." She explains.

"Why would he be going on a mission by himself?" Soma asks with some surprise.

"Well, from what I heard, it's mostly just a training session; but the real thing." Soma clicked his tongue, telling her to put his name down to go with the brat on the 'mission'.

"So, I heard that you'll be going with me to my training session!" Eric's sudden voice breaks the silence and an arm is thrown over Soma's shoulders.

Looking up at the redhead, Soma frowns at the smiling face and clicked his tongue again in annoyance.

"What are you thinking, going on a mission by yourself? Even if there were only small aragami, there is still a chance that you would have trouble keeping up." Soma scolds, pushing Eric off of him and continuing to walk away from him towards his room.

"The training sessions are getting boring and it's not like the real thing. Plus, I get to bring back some core as a reward." Eric explains to his friend in confidence, hooking his fingers on his pockets.

"Do you know what you're going to go up against?" Soma asks, giving him a side glare.

"The first thing I see in front of me."

Soma sighed in frustration. Eric is a little bit overconfident and it really bugs Soma. But as a God Eater, he isn't so bad. While his ego is huge, he knows that he can't do everything on his own and can always rely on others around him.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Eric waves him off, turning down another hallway.

"Yeah." Soma nods, stopping and staring at the back of his head as Eric walked away with a small hum. Once he disappeared around the corner, Soma shook his head and headed towards his room to get some sleep before tomorrow.

"You want shotgun?" Eric asks when Soma walks up to the jeep they will be taking.

"I'm driving." Getting into the drivers' side of the jeep, Soma starts it up and checks to see if there was gas and if they have working radios in case of emergencies.

"Okay, okay." Jumping into the jeep, Eric made sure to secure his God Arc and hit the side of his door as a cue for Soma to get driving. "Ready."

Soma nods and begins driving out of the compound garage. Once they made it past the walls, Eric let out a stretch and a sigh of relief.

"Feels great getting out of there. It's been a while since I have been on a mission." Eric mentions, looking out into the vast horizon.

"Is that why you requested a personal mission?" Soma asks, keeping his eyes ahead.

"No. Like I said, I wanted to train with the real thing. Can't let my skills getting rusty."

Soma frowns at Eric, keeping quiet as he continued to drive. There really wasn't a destination planned, but the first place they come across aragami is where they are going to stop. And it was almost an hour's drive before they found a small herd of Ogretails and a couple of Ravana walking around large columned buildings in search of some flesh.

"Shit! We found some good-sized ones tonight!" Eric cheers, making sure to keep his voice down as Soma parked the jeep out of sight.

Grabbing their God Arcs from the backseat, Soma and Eric tiptoed around the building before the redhead motions that he is going to find higher ground to get them from above while Soma got closer to get them from the ground. It stood silent for a few minutes before Eric began to rapidly shoot the Ogretails, letting out a whistle and insult as he made himself present.

Soma sighs in annoyance before joining in and slicing any aragami that ran around individually. Before he knew it, he looks back and finds the two Ravana cantering towards the commotion with their teeth bared at them and canons ready to attack. Clicking his tongue, Soma quickly finishes with the last of the Ogretails before calling Eric and warning him about the Ravanas.

"Don't worry! I can get them from here!" Eric reassures with a cocky tone, taking a few long-range shots and hitting one of them.

Soma looks up at Eric before noticing a lone Ogretail running towards him from behind.

"Eric! Behind you!" Soma knew he wasn't going to make it since he couldn't jump as high as the platform Eric stood on.

Turning back, Eric barely had a chance to react before he moved out of the way of the aragami but fell from the platform as the flooring under him collapsed. Eric fell on his back, knocking the wind out of him and groaning in pain.

"Eric!" Rushing to his side, Soma throws his arm over his shoulder and attempts to carry him to a safe area as he looks around and scans for his God Arc.

"Soma, just… leave me… get somewhere safe…" Eric struggles, letting out a groan as he felt his side tear.

"Shit," Soma looks back in a panic and finds the Ogretail sprinting towards them with its jaws wide open. Taking a moment, Soma drops Eric and swiftly slices the small aragami with a single swing of his Arc before turning to his friend and picking him off the ground again.

"Wait," Eric looks up in shock. "Where's the Ravana?"

A chill runs down Soma's spine as it was suddenly quiet as the second medium aragami disappeared from their presence. He couldn't let his guard down as he felt as though it didn't really run away and that it could be hiding somewhere nearby. Slowly making his way towards where he stationed their jeep, Soma felt extremely uneasy and he knew that Eric needed medical attention; and fast.

"Where did it go?" He whispers under his breath before a loud emergence of the aragami causes him to freeze.

It was only a moment before he and Eric were thrown up against a nearby building. Letting out a groan, Soma attempts to get up from the ground before he let out a cry. Holding his leg, he felt it bend in a strange position and his joints string. Looking up from his leg, he finds the Ravana prowling towards the two like a pray making its way towards its meal.

Soma could only stare at it in defeat. Eric and he were going to die. What was supposed to be a simple 'mission' became the death of some of the best God Eaters in the Far East Branch.

"God, we're fucked."

Shutting his eyes, Soma waits for death to come upon him before a sudden voice made his heart skip a beat.

"Stop!"

Looking up, he finds a figure standing in front of the aragami. They held out their arms and made the Ravana pay all their attention to the single figure. It bares its teeth at the person before they shake their arm, causing a light jingle sound to arise from the silence around them. The Ravana perks in interest, leaning down close to the human and tilting its head to the side.

"What are you doing?! You're going to get killed!" Soma shouts, attempting to move before a jolt of pain causes him to shut up.

"Shut up." The voice spits back, keeping the attention of the aragami on them.

Soma watches an entire scene unfold as a sudden melody was made just from the choreographed shakes from the figure's body, a dance that seemed to have been entranced by the aragami in a way that he has never seen. It didn't attack; it just stood there and watched the figure dance and hypnotize it. After a long minute, the figure stops dancing and stares up at the aragami before they extend their arm out and stroke the Ravana's golden face. And Soma swore that he just heard the aragami purr to their touch.

"There isn't anything here for you. Just get going back home." The voice quietly tells the aragami before it stands up straight and turns away from the humans and walks away like it wasn't just going to try to eat the God Eaters.

The figure let out an exhausted sigh before turning towards Soma. Walking up to him, Soma is finally able to get a clear view of the figure. She was a tall, slim figure who wore a tight black shirt with a faded tan flowing skirt that wrapped around her waist. On her arms she wore many different bracelets, some being bell bracelets that seemed to have been the ones that made the beautiful song. While her black hair was shoulder-length, she had two waist long strands that framed her face but also were held tightly together with tiny gold rings.

Stranding in front of Soma, the woman stares at him with a look of indifference before she pins him against the wall with her heeled boot. Soma let out a groan, glaring up at the woman and hating her even before he figured out who she was.

"How stupid are the two of you?" She asks, almost like it was a rhetorical question.

"How stupid? It's our job." Soma counters.

"Dying?"

"To kill aragami! We're God Eaters if you couldn't tell." Soma attempts to move her foot from his shoulder, struggling as he felt exhausted and his energy almost non-existent.

"I couldn't. Probably because you were too busy trying to run away and die." Soma growls at her sarcasm. "What about your friend?"

Soma looks over at the unconscious Eric, noticing the pool of blood that has settled under him. Unpinning Soma from the wall, the woman walks over to his body and kneels down next to him, feeling his pulse and letting out a sigh.

"He's still alive, but he will die from blood loss if this isn't stitched up soon." Gently picking him up, she hooks his arm over her shoulders and drags his body next to hers.

"What about me?" Soma asks, frowning at the woman.

"Amsi will help you walk. You can make it to your sword since it's only right there and use that as a cane so you can follow me." She explains, continuing to walk away from him.

"Amsi?" Turning to look to his right, he finds a small Abaddon aragami staring at him with a blank stare.

"That's Amsi." The woman calls. "If you're nice to him, he won't run away and leave you to crawl."

"You keep it as a pet?!" As Soma raises his voice, Amsi backs away from him and begins following the woman like a leashed pet. "Hey!"

"What did I just say?" The woman glares at the God Eater, sighing and telling the little aragami to go back and help him walk.

Struggling to get up, Soma was able to put most of his weight on the back of the flying fish aragami and hops on one leg towards his God Arc; leaning down and picking it up and using it as a crutch as he follows the woman into one of the collapsed buildings. Following her lead, he navigates through the building until he enters her bunker that was underground and out of reach of many aragami.

"You're lucky I didn't leave a day earlier or you two would have been fucked." She tells Soma as she lays Eric down on a small futon, taking off his vest and folding it, placing it to the side. "You're also lucky that I don't need medical attention as often as those who encounter violent aragami as often as you guys do."

Rummaging through her backpack, the woman pulls out a large bandage with a roll of gauze, some alcohol, and a rag to clean the wound. Along with a curved needle and some string.

"What was that?" Soma asks, staring at the woman's jewelry she wore up along her arms.

"The dance?" She guesses.

Soma doesn't reply as he continues to stare at her as she skillfully stitched up the wound before holding up Eric's limp body, wrapping the bandage and gauze around his waist. Gently lowering him down on the futon, she puts away her equipment before looking back at Soma with a soft expression.

"Guess I learned how to mesmerize an aragami." Soma looks at the woman in confusion, showing her that she may need to continue to explain. "It was kind of a strange discovery. I was staying in an abandoned storage garage thinking that there weren't any aragami in the area and sometimes when I'm stressed, I like to dance a little to get the jitters out. But as I was dancing, an aragami must have heard the bells and followed until it made it into the garage. Before I knew it, a yaksha just stood there, staring at me in some trance.

"I stopped dancing, and when I did, it seemed to have become aggressive in some way and was about to charge before I started dancing again. It stared at me again. I realized that it must have liked my dancing, so I continued to dance. I danced for the yaksha for half an hour before it was satisfied and left without another twitch. If it happened with him than I knew it had to have happened with others."

"You just danced in front of aragami without knowing if it worked with others?" Soma asks, almost sarcastically.

"Yeah, pretty much." She nods to him before walking over to her bag and taking out a small protein bar and tossing it to him. Then picking up the water canteen, she walks over to Soma and sits down on the ground next to him. "Just so you don't starve."

Soma nods his head, only silently thanking her as he ate the protein bar.

"So what's your name, God Eater?" The woman asks, giving him another look of curiosity.

"You can call me Soma."

"Soma," She repeats. "Nice name."

Soma flinched at the comment, really hating the name for its meaning.

"I'm Tala." Tala looks up at Soma, holding out her hand to shake his. "If you're a God Eater than I must be a God Dancer."


	3. 03 - Norco and Morphine

Tala finds the jeep parked behind the building, untouched but dusty. Amsi following her as she investigated the vehicle to make sure that it was still safe to drive.

"Looks like I can drive those God Eaters back to the wall," Tala mentions, looking back at the flying fish and nodding to herself.

The aragami gives her a curious look, making her continue to speak.

"That is if I can even drive this thing." She looks at the jeep and admired it from afar. "I don't think I have ever driven anything in my life. I always walked everywhere."

Amsi nudges up close to the human, needy for her attention.

"Alright, alright." She laughs. "Let's get back to the bunker. I really hope that guy is still alive."

Soma stares at his teammate as he just lies on the futon, unconscious and barely breathing. He just hates the idea that Eric really wanted to go on a mission by himself, without backup and without another teammate. It only put thoughts of suffering and death in his mind and he would have died without anyone knowing.

"I'm back." Soma looks back and finds Tala walking into the bunker. "Your vehicle is still in good shape. If you can drive with your left foot than we can probably make it back to the wall."

Soma looks up in surprise. "Can't you drive?"

"I have only survived on foot." Tala shakes her head. "How's your friend?"

"Still hasn't moved. Are you sure he's alive?" Soma looks back at Tala and finds her glaring at him.

"I have some medicine that could wake him up in a few hours. He won't have the rest but at least we will know if he's alive." Walking over to her backpack again, Tala takes out a small pouch before pulling out a pale looking pill.

Soma watches as she grabs the water canteen and kneels down next to Eric's body. Gently cradling him in her arms, she pushes the medicine through his lips before drinking and holding some water in her mouth. Soma watches as she locks her lips with Eric's and pushes the water down into him.

"That should do it," Tala said as she lies him down on the futon once again and covers his body with a blanket.

"What kind of medicine is it?" Soma asks.

"Just a little bit of this and that. But it's mostly morphine." Tala explains, drinking some of the water before attaching it back on her backpack.

"Morphine? How did you get a hold of that?" Tala doesn't reply, pulling her book out of the bag and sitting across from the God Eater.

"I usually move around at night, but it would be better if I assisted you two in the morning." She opens her book, ignoring Soma's stare as she continues where she left off in the story.

"Aren't you afraid of aragami?" Soma asks through the silence, making Tala look up at him with a blank stare.

"Yes. I'm afraid of aragami. Living outside without weapons is like a game of cat and mouse. Except the mouse is cornered and the cat has rabies." Pulling the book up, she continues to read without a second thought, allowing the God Eater to register what she meant by that statement.

After a few hours of silence between the two, a sudden cough from the unconscious body makes the two look back at him in surprise. Eric opens his eyes and lets out a painful groan. Rubbing his head, he attempts to sit up before letting out a painful cry with a curse word following.

"Hey, hey, hey. Don't move or you'll rip the stitching." Tala quickly pushes him back down on the futon, reassuring him as he looks disoriented.

"Are you here to take me to hell?" Eric asks, making Soma raise an eyebrow in confusion.

Tala giggles at his question. "You're not dead. Though it seems that if you don't move around too much the wound doesn't bother you too much."

"Huh?" Looking down, Eric finds a large bandage wrapping around his waist with padding along his side where the stitched up wound is located. Though it was painful for him to move, he didn't know that it was there without Tala telling him. "Shit, what happened?"

"You probably got it from your fall. You didn't exactly have a soft landing." Soma explains as he remembers how close he was from encountering the Ogretail before falling through the flooring.

"You look like shit too." Eric points out, nodding towards his splinted leg.

"He doesn't have as bad of an injury as you, so you should count yourself lucky," Tala tells him, making Eric look up at her with a blank expression.

"And who are you?"

"I'm the one that saved you." Tala gives him a look of accomplishment, smiling before looking over at Soma. "Told you he would wake up."

Soma doesn't reply as he closes his eyes and lets out a sigh.

"Hey, Soma, where's my God Arc?" Eric scans the room, growing anxious as he didn't see it in his sights.

"It's outside somewhere. Maybe where you fell. But I couldn't bring it over even if I wanted to." Eric nods, understanding what the situation was.

"You two should get some rest. We're going to have to leave before the sun rises tomorrow morning and quickly find your sword." Tala walks back to her backpack and pulls out another blanket, tossing it to Soma before sitting down and leaning against the wall. "Soma, you're driving so you need some rest too."

"What about you?"

"I'm going to sleep too. Aragami attacks don't happen much at night since most of them are blind." Tala leans back, letting out a sigh of exhaustion.

Soma stares at her for a long moment before closing his eyes again and leans back against the wall and before he knew it he was fast asleep.

"Hey, sis," Lindow runs into Tsubaki as she messes with the iPad in her arms, making her look up at her brother with a blank expression.

"We're on duty, Corporal. Please refrain from calling me that." She barks back, making Lindow give her a tired look like it was the hundredth time she mentioned it.

"Have you seen Soma around?"

"Soma went to assist Eric on a personal training mission. They only left this morning so they should be back by tonight." Tsubaki informs Lindow, making him rub his head in concern.

"Alright. If you say so. It's just kinda quiet around here without them." Lindow waves off his sister, walking towards his fiance's room to steal a beer. "Give me a shout when they get back, won't ya?"

Tala kneels down next to Soma as she shakes his shoulder and tries to wake him up. To her surprise, he woke up in almost an instant, startling her when he quickly sat up and went to grab his God Arc.

"Gee, someone's a little paranoid." Tala simply states as she gets off the floor.

"What do you want?" Soma asks, leaning back against the wall again.

"Here. Take this." Holding out a small pill, Tala watches the God Eater stare at it for a long moment before he shook his head and refuses to take a mystery drug. "You're so stubborn."

Popping in the pill into her own mouth and holding in some water, Tala once again kneels down in front of Soma before pinning him against the wall and locking her lips with his. Struggling to push her off, the pain from his leg made it nearly impossible for him to move around especially as she straddled him. Tala pushes the drug and water down Soma's throat, making sure he completely swallows it before jumping off of his lap and taking a few steps back from him.

"What the fuck did you just force down me?!" Soma shouts at Tala, coughing as he tries to breathe normally again.

"An oral-Norco." Tala simply informs, turning her back to him and walking up to the still sleeping Eric. "You're gonna need it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're gonna be walking on that bad leg and driving on rough terrain. I don't need you breaking down and crying like a little kid when it becomes extremely painful and impossible to ignore." Tala shakes Eric's shoulder gently, watching him yawn as he regains consciousness.

"Hey," He greets sluggishly, rubbing his eyes and clears his vision.

"How are you feeling?" Tala asks as she gently touches the bandaged area and watches him slightly flinch.

"Like I can take over the world," Eric chuckles, sitting up as he groans in pain. "Lindow is probably freaking out by now."

"We didn't bring any equipment that could help us get in contact with them. The radio in the jeep works so as soon as we can get out of here, the faster we can get back." Soma briefs as he held onto his God Arc before attempting to use it as a crutch.

"Don't forget that we need to find my God Arc before leaving. No way am I leaving that behind." Eric nods before looking over at Tala. "You think I'll be in okay shape?"

"I'm no doctor so I can't say that there are any more injuries that we should be worried about. But I gave you some medicine that should clot any wounds that you may have gotten internally." She explains as she hands him his vest. "If you need something for the pain, I have morphine and Norco; that's only if you need it."

"Thanks, doc." Eric jokes as he stands from the futon. "Welp, it hurts but I can still walk."

Soma glares at Eric, growling at him to shut up.

"I'm all packed so let's find your sword and get going."

Leading the way, Tala navigates through the ruined building before the group made it out in the open. The sun had yet to rise but before they knew it, Eric found his God Arc and Tala guides them to the parked vehicle. Loading up their things, Eric sits in the back as Soma takes the driver's seat with Tala on the passenger side.

"Okay! Let's get going!" Eric psyches, hitting the roof of the jeep followed by a look of annoyance from the driver.

"Do that again and I'm leaving you out here."

Tala watches out the window as they began driving away from the site. It has been a long time since she had last been in a vehicle that she was starting to feel car sick.


	4. 04 - Flying Fish

Tala wakes up with a start as the vehicle comes to a sudden halt. Scanning the area around them, she grows confused when she sees that they were still in the middle of nowhere.

"Are we lost?" She asks as she looks over at the driver and finds a pissed off expression on his face.

"Eric was whining that he needed to go to the bathroom for the last ten minutes."

"Unless you wanted me to shit on the back seat!" She hears Eric shout from behind a nearby boulder, resulting in Soma letting out an annoyed sigh.

"How long have we been driving?" Tala asks.

"Almost an hour. We'll be getting to the city in no time."

Tala nods. "Drop me off at the wall before you guys enter. I can survive on my own."

"Why don't you want to go in? Are you not compatible?"

"I am. And that is the reason why I don't want to go in." Tala looks over at the God Eater with a frown. "I don't want to be used to kill aragami then die without being remembered."

"That's exactly what's gonna happen when you die outside the wall." Soma counters, a little confused about what the girl was trying to imply.

"Hm," She stops and thinks for a moment before a smile appears on her lips. "It's the lesser evil."

Soma wanted to know what she meant by that before he jumped at the sudden appearance of the flying fish.

"Amsi, there you are. I didn't think you would follow." The aragami squeezes into the jeep and onto Tala's lap, snuggling up close to her like he was a kitten wanting attention. Smiling, Tala begins stroking the little aragami as Soma watched; intrigued by the scene in front of him.

"He's… attracted to you," Soma observes, watching the aragami lie in Tala's lap and almost smile in content.

"I saved him once when some of the other Abaddon aragami were being mean to him. Ever since he's been around me." Leaning into the aragami, Tala smiles and hugs the flying fish. "You're just a very special flying fishy, aren't you?" She asks it with that voice you use when you talk to babies.

Soma only stared in silent surprise, watching the small aragami let out a small high pitched sound of delight; which was the first time he has ever heard this species of aragami make such sound.

"Yeah, people just don't know how friendly you are cause they just try to kill you. You're just a little, lovey-dovey fish that loves hugs."

"Okay, I'm now good and…" Eric stops mid-sentence when he finds the aragami in the jeep, staring at it before reaching for his God Arc.

"You do anything to Amsi, I'll make sure you overdose on painkillers." Tala glares back at him, growling a warning as she seems him tense in the corner of her eye.

"Amsi?" He asks.

"The flying fish's name." Soma simply replies as he starts the vehicle and begins driving in the same direction as before.

As he accelerates in silence, Tala notices Soma grit his teeth as he grimaces; looking down to find him driving with his disjointed leg.

"You're driving with your right leg."

Soma looks back at her with a slight tilt of his head before looking back at the vastness before them.

"Soma is crazy. Even when he is in extreme pain, he doesn't show it. The quieter he is about the pain, the worse it is." Eric explains, leaning back in the seat as he watches the scene pass them.

"Well, he's not saying anything as he is driving, so I guess when you put pressure on it, it hurts worse." Tala conducts, staring at the man as he pulls his hood farther over his head to try to hide his face. Tala could only sigh as she turns away from him. "At least those painkillers are working. If not, then you would be crying right now."

"Do you think that they would let in an aragami past the wall?" Eric asks, staring at the flying fish in curiosity.

"You're not gonna find out since you guys are dropping me off before you get to the wall," Tala replies back harshly, only to be countered by Soma's deep voice.

"No, we aren't."

"Hey, excuse me! But I already told you,"

"Shut up." He simply growls, glaring back and silencing her. "You risked your life for us, so we need to make sure you're in a position before going back."

"You don't want her to stay with us?" Eric stares at the back of Soma's head, slightly surprised that he wasn't going to keep her safe and within the walls.

"She's survived this long outside the walls. Why not continue what she started?"

Eric sat in surprise before frowning. "That's cruel."

The rest of the drive was silent between the three people, Amsi making a few little sounds that broke the silence once in a while. Before they knew it, the walls were in sight and Soma navigated towards the soldiers' gates. And as the gates opened, some of the men looked at the group in surprise.

"We thought something had happened to you!" One of them says as they drove through the gates.

"Well, something did. Eric and I need medical assistance so call in the medic and tell them to be ready." Soma explains, grimacing as he attempts to accelerate the vehicle.

"Yes, sir. And what about," The man points at Tala with a look of fear; of all the expressions he could have reacted with.

"She's under my supervision. Don't question it." He replies in a monotone, driving away from the guards before they could ask anything else.

"This would have been easier if you just left me outside," Tala says under her breath, making Eric and Soma look at her with some mixed emotions.

As they drove the jeep in the garage, they were greeted by both Lindow and Tsubaki, Paylor, and some of the medics. Following behind were a few of the other God Eaters who wanted to see for themselves that Soma and Eric made it back alive.

"Hey, Lindow. Mind giving me a hand?" Soma asks as he attempts to get out of the jeep with one useful leg before almost falling over, his team's leader catching him just in time.

"What the hell happened to the both of you?" Tsubaki asks as she scans the two bodies and finds them in shit shape.

"Believe it or not, we almost got eaten," Eric says with a small chuckle as he sat on the stretcher that was brought out and took off his vest for the nurses to check out his bandaged wound.

"How did you manage to not get eaten the entire time?" Lindow asks, helping Soma to the second stretcher where he sprawls out and directs the nurses to his right leg.

"Her."

The sound of the jeep door slamming closed made the group look back in surprise, most of them freezing when they notice Tala walking out in the open. But the alertness of the group suddenly heightened when they find the aragami following her, some jumping to grab their God Arcs as it made noises towards the group.

"Everyone, STOP!" Soma's voice roars through the garage, making everyone's movements stop. Aside from the aragami; who squeaks and quickly hides behind Tala.

Paylor stared in revelation, noticing both the aragami's and stranger's body language as Tala looks down at the aragami and lightly strokes his head.

"No one is allowed to touch them." Soma begins, causing the entire room to stare back at him. "She is the one that saved Eric and me from the Ravana."

"Ravana?!" Both the Amamiya siblings look back at the girl in dumbfound, trying to find any weapon that she may have on her.

"She is also the one that stitched me up and gave us some painkillers." Eric comments, having the group look over at him.

"It's amateur work but it was enough to keep him from bleeding out." The nurse states with a nod as he rebandages the God Eater.

"Where were you able to find painkillers outside the wall?" Tsubaki asks first.

"I made them." Tala simply answers, keeping her eyes down at the small aragami still hiding behind her.

"She made them?" One of the other God Eater's whispered, surprised to hear something like that as it was nearly impossible to make or even find medical supplies outside the wall.

"What's your name, stranger?" Lindow asks, voice firm but not harsh.

Tala finally looks up at the group, her eyes narrowed as she wasn't hiding the fact that she wasn't pleased to be there.

"Tala Pouria. And if any of you touch Amsi, I'm gonna break your arm."

The room fell silent as they all stared at the woman, a little confused but also frightened. But it was easily broken by the flat tone of Soma's explanation.

"Amsi is the flying fish."


End file.
